A state program that screens low-income women for breast cancer has been paying doctors and clinics $12 million a year to track women whose mammograms showed they were cancer-free. The program –- known as Every Woman Counts -– stopped accepting new patients Jan. 1 because of a self-described lack of funds. The $50 case management fees have been questioned by the Department of Finance, which says other big states don’t pay them, and the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst, which recommended eliminating them. The money saved could be used to once again offer mammograms to women who qualify for the program. Correspondent Megan Baier has the story.

Legislation that would reverse major cuts to a program that provides free mammograms for low-income women passed unanimously through the Senate Thursday and was sent to an uncertain fate in the office of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Budget cuts to a state program that provides mammograms to screen low-income women for breast cancer have affected far more women than expected, according to state figures. While the cuts had been expected to reduce the number of recipients by 17 percent to about 21,000 per month, only about 10,000 women per month received the service in the first three months of the year, according to this AP story.

Legislation to reinstate breast cancer screenings for low-income women as young as age 40 will be heard -- and likely passed -- by the Senate Health Committee today. But its prospects of becoming law remain uncertain.